The Senate will hold an emergency plenary session on Monday, November 6, 2023, to approve the votes and proceedings of last week Thursday.

However, a source close to the Senate, said in confidence that one of the major reasons for the proposed emergency session was to prevent some aggrieved persons from obtaining court injunction to stop the swearing in of some already confirmed Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs).

There were ten nominations forwarded to the Senate for consideration and approval by President Bola Tinubu, seven of whom were confirmed on Wednesday while three were confirmed on Thursday last week.

The source, who preferred to speak on a condition of anonymity, hinted that there were petitions submitted against two of the REC appointees by some aggrieved persons, requesting the lawmakers not to confirm them on the ground that they were partisan individuals.

It will be recalled that in a petition jointly signed by 17 Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), the coalition specifically asked the apex legislative Chamber to reject the Akwa Ibom and Edo States nominees Etekarnba Umoren and Isah Shaka Ehimeakne respectively, on the ground that they were involved in partisan activities.

The petition was sent to the President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio, and the Chairman of the Senate Committee on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

According to the source, the Senate disregarded the petition and confirmed the appointees, a development that might push the petitioners to approach the court for an injunction to stop their inauguration by President Tinubu.

The source said that after the emergency plenary session on Monday, where the votes and proceedings of Thursday would be approved, the list of the confirmed REC appointees would be forwarded to President Tinubu, who would swear them in immediately, thereby encumbering any possible legal action against their oath of office.

Also, at the last sitting of the Senate, the Senators considered and approved the report of the joint National Assembly Committee on Appropriations on the N2.17 trillion Supplementary Appropriation Bill for 2023.

The source said the planned approval of Thursday’s Votes and Proceedings during the session on Monday was meant to enable the Clerk to the National Assembly (CNA) to transmit the Supplementary Budget passed by both Chambers to the President for assent.

The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Media and Publicity, Senator Yemi Adaramodu, when contacted, confirmed that the Senate would hold an emergency session on Monday.

“The session is meant to approve the votes and proceedings of Thursday. We were so late in the Senate Chamber on Thursday, and so many of our colleagues had already gone for public hearings and other Committee meetings. So we are just coming up to do just that,” he said.

When asked whether the need to transmit the Supplementary Appropriation Bill was part of the reason for the emergency session, Adaramodu said that everything done by the Senate on Thursday was part of it.

“Everything that we have done, not only the supplementary budget will be there. The screening will be there. Everything will be there,” he said. (New Telegraph)

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